Laos- Vang Vieng

Sitting in an internet cafe on the main street of Vang Vieng, definitely the weirdest town of all we've been to. I don't mean to be rude when calling it weird but this town has kooky and kitsch and crazy. From all directions I can hear the theme song and several episodes of "Friends", playing out of almost every bar and restaurant in town. Every now and again we'll be lucky to pass a "Family Guy" bar, a nice change from the canned laughter and mixed up seasons of Friends (as much as I do love the show normally!). Our guesthouse is decorated with all kinds of funny cartoons (think Hello Kitty and Disney) and the bed linen is wonderfully colourful but not matching at all and they've gone a bit overboard on the pink! The same goes for the interior decoration of bars and cafes too, all quite happily mismatched and set up to lie for hours watching TV after a big day of tubing.
Tubing! Possibly the most fun and least healthy activity ever. The reason that I can be spending so much time on the internet today is that yesterday we had a massive day of: waking up and having a lazy breakfast at our guesthouse's Friends bar, heading over to the tubing station to pick up our big grey rubber tubes, getting a tuk-tuk to the river, having a beer while watching people (including our crazy Dave!) zip line and jump into the river from a godawful height, floating downstream about 30 metres to bar number 2, drinking many a beverage/bucket (most of them free thanks to Dee's new friend Simon who owns the place..), stealing some Finnish guys sunglasses and having them stolen right back, jumping off a 10 metre high wobbly wooden platform (by everyone but me, not so good with heights and jumping from them), being written all over in blue permanent marker and then floating downstream for the next 2 hours trying to find the end! Dee and I lost the other three somewhere down the river when I ran into a friend from Howitt but managed to meet back up with them at the guesthouse safe and sound but not prepared to do much today but sleep in, eat and be lazy. Lying in a rubber tube and trying to paddle your way across the river takes its toll on your muscles and bare feet on sharp stones are never a good combination. Oh well, a good day had by all, for those who can remember it!

PS. My phone is out of action as it appears that a 'dry bag' is only dry if you seal it right, so best to be contacted on Facebook.
PPS. Apologies to any parentals who may not find the idea of tubing amusing, but the moral of the story is still that we are having fun and safe.. right??